Never a dull moment. . . .

[pixelated]

So I'm sitting here quietly perusing DXUser when the wife calls me upstairs - seems there was a very loud arc pop sound and now the smoke detectors chirping occasionally. Yea right. So I head upstairs and all of a sudden wham - it does it again. Arc pop my butt - My welder doesn't make that much noise. I'm talking literally firecracker loud. Definitely has my attention now. Quick check of the breakers, nothings popped. All cords & lights normal. Nothing unusual plugged in. No smoking receptacles. WHAM - does it again. Headed for a step ladder to check the attic spaces. A little background - house is 60 years old - we completely rewired about 5 years ago - replaced everything - but found some really scary s..t in the process. Also added fully interconnected smoke detectors as part of the rewire.

3 minutes pass, I'm headed for the attic when WHAM - it does it yet again. This makes like the 5th time. No visible smoke - nothing else unusual.By this time I'm packing a fire extinguisher & flashlight - headed for the attic, glad 911's on speed dial.

30 sec later the living room smoke detector chirps - but none of the others. For some reason I stop & pull it down - it's very warm ??? Lift the cover and that little 9v battery has literally exploded inside. End's blown off, guts hanging out, and it's still very hot. Mystery solved - but can you just see the headlines - smoke detector burns house down. To tell the truth I'm pretty amazed at the power packed in that little 9v battery. They'll definitely be getting a little more respect in my gear bag from now on.

[alex whitmer]

What's not to love about a good irony.

Reminded me of a story some umpteen years ago, about a guy named FRY installing hard-wired smoke detectors, but saving a bundle by not actually pulling any wire. Yeah, a few houses burned.

a